Bill C-236

Addressing the Continuing Victimization of Homicide Victims' Families Act

An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Prisons and Reformatories Act

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to add as an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes and as a reason to delay parole the fact that a person who is convicted of certain offences refuses to provide persons in authority with information respecting the location of bodies or remains. It also amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Prisons and Reformatories Act to add that fact as a consideration in the making of certain decisions under those Acts.

Addressing the Continuing Victimization of Homicide Families Act

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-236, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Prisons and Reformatories Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to reintroduce McCann's law in the House today.

In 2010, Lyle and Marie McCann of St. Albert were tragically murdered, and to this day their remains have never been found. The individual responsible has refused to disclose where the remains are, compounding the pain the McCann family continues to endure to this day. Sadly, their case is not an isolated one. Missing and murdered indigenous women make up a disproportionate number of these tragic cases.

McCann's law would empower judges, parole boards and correctional officers with the tools to hold offenders accountable. It would extend parole ineligibility and ensure that co-operation in recovering victims' remains is a major factor in parole decisions. In Canada, killers can walk free without ever disclosing the location of their victims' remains. Families have a right to know where their loved ones are. They have a right to give them a proper funeral, and the people who would deny them these fundamental rights must be held to account.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)